Memories

As his teasing words faded, the young woman pressed tightly against his chest. Xu Yuan clearly sensed the slight quickening of her breath, and a gentle smile curved his lips. Wrapping an arm around her slender waist, he gently stroked her soft, cascading hair, breathing in the delicate fragrance of her tresses while savoring the exquisite softness of her body. Every touch carried just the right degree of intimacy. Xu Yuan was quite fond of their current position, though it would have been even better if Tianyan were not wearing this court dress. Still, he made no further moves; scaring this little white rabbit away would do more harm than good. "Xu Yuan..." Tianyan's voice sounded softly, somewhat muffled as her face remained buried against his hair. "Y-You... let go of me first." Xu Yuan wound a strand of her silky hair around his fingertip. "What's wrong?" "Let go of me first," Tianyan repeated. "I won't," Xu Yuan chuckled softly. "..." Tianyan fell silent. Then, With a swift jerk, she broke free from his embracing arm. Xu Yuan tried to hold her back, but could not stop her in the slightest, nearly dislocating his arm in the attempt. Their physical strength simply was not on the same level. An extraordinary world truly made a difference. In his past life, when a couple quarreled, giving the other a good thrashing in bed with a "stick" could smooth everything over. Here, however, unless Tianyan herself was willing, he might not even be able to touch a single one of her fingers. With a quiet sigh in his heart, Xu Yuan looked up at the young woman atop him. *Heh...* he liked this position even more. Tianyan straightened her back, straddling his lower abdomen. Her elaborate court skirt cascaded down on both sides, while her two bare, mutton-fat-white feet curled slightly, betraying the surge of emotion within their mistress. Feeling his naked, predatory gaze sweep over her, Tianyan let out a faint huff in her heart. Yet her expression remained composed, as if she had long grown accustomed to it. "What did you mean by what you just said?" A roguish smirk curled the corner of Xu Yuan's mouth as he gazed straight into her azure-gold pupils. "Literally what I said. Could I be mistaken?" With that, he propped his upper body up, leaned close to her ear, and blew softly against her crystalline earlobe. "You used to be so proactive. If we were in the illusion, with such an intimate posture, I'd probably have been pinned down by now..." Tianyan's breath hitched slightly, an edge of fluster welling up in her heart. She shoved Xu Yuan straight back down onto the bed. "D-Don't get so close to me." "Then what are you doing riding on top of me right now?" Having been shoved back onto the mattress once more, Xu Yuan simply gave up, resting his head on his crossed hands behind his neck as he stared up at her. Rain pattered outside, and a cold draft ruffled her slightly disheveled hair. Tianyan blinked, and a familiar hardness beneath her made her hurriedly try to stand. Xu Yuan, however, was a step ahead, catching her slender waist with his hands and holding her back down. After a wave of crimson flushed her cheeks, Tianyan stopped trying to rise. Regaining her composure, she looked straight into his eyes. "Xu Yuan, you haven't regained your memories, have you?" Xu Yuan grinned. "Charm God cherry poison lasting for over a decade... I must say, that feeling was—" "Who do you think that was for?! No, you're changing the subject again!" Tianyan's beautiful eyes flashed with indignation. Glaring down at him, she caught his collarbones and yanked him up from the bed once more. "Answer me straight! Don't even think about lying to me!" Xu Yuan twitched his lips and looked aside. "I remembered." "Look at me and say it!" "I really did remember." "Xu Yuan! Do you take me for a fool?!" "Sigh..." With a faint sigh, Xu Yuan shifted his gaze back to her face and chuckled playfully. "Just kidding. I really did remember." "Hah." Tianyan sneered coldly and said nothing, narrowing her eyes as she stared at him up close. Divine light swirled within her golden pupils, carrying an inviolable divinity. She seemed to believe this gave her an imposing presence. Back in the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, whenever she assumed this demeanor, everyone else would fall silent out of terror. Yet Xu Yuan saw only her breathtakingly exquisite face, the adorable furrow of her brow in anger, and... that urge deep inside him to tease her. He had no interest in worshipping an aloof fairy from afar, but pulling such an aloof fairy down to wallow in worldly indulgence? He was very interested in that—extremely so. With that thought, Xu Yuan's hand instinctively reached toward her lower abdomen. Just as he had in the illusion. Unfortunately, this was not the illusion, and Tianyan was not under the influence of the Charm God cherry poison. *Smack.* His hand was slapped away. Tianyan lowered her crisp voice, sounding like an enraged kitten. "I told you, don't touch me!" "Then why didn't you resist just now?" "Resist what?" "If you really wanted to get off me, a mere Soul Condensation cultivator like me couldn't possibly hold you back. Yet with just a gentle tug, you sat right back down." "..." Tianyan instinctively glanced downward. She wanted to rise, but felt doing so would only confirm this bastard's claim. At that moment, Xu Yuan's voice drifted into her mind like a devil's whisper: "After nearly twenty years together like an old married couple, why are you still acting like a little girl?" Tianyan drew two sharp breaths and glared sideways at him. "A rogue like you ought to be castrated." "You wouldn't bear to." Xu Yuan spread his hands, completely shameless. "Like I said, whatever you want to do, I can't resist right now anyway." Tianyan ground her teeth. "If you dare expose it in front of me again, I'll shatter it!" "Oh?" Xu Yuan let out a questioning murmur. Beneath Tianyan's puzzled gaze, he sat up while gently pushing her slightly away. "Saying that... does that mean you want to see—" "Shut up!" Tianyan's voice suddenly spiked. She knew all too well that this scoundrel never joked about such shameless things. Gritting her teeth, she spoke with flustered exasperation: "C-Can you stop messing around, please? I... I just want to know whether you... you... did you..." "I remembered, truly." Xu Yuan raised a hand and brushed her cheek, his gaze turning earnest. "I've been telling you I remembered from the start, but you wouldn't believe me." "..." After staring at him for several breaths, Tianyan bit her lip coldly. "Liar. "If you truly remembered, you couldn't possibly be acting like this." "True." "Then why did you say you remembered?!" "Let me finish first." Xu Yuan lowered his eyes and spoke in a soft, gentle tone. "I did regain my memories, but they aren't complete." Tianyan remained half-convinced and half-doubtful. She had seen far too much of this bastard's habit of spinning wild tall tales. "Incomplete?" Xu Yuan let out a soft sigh. "My secret technique can assimilate the Heavenly Yan divine soul for my own use, but the dosage just now wasn't enough to fully transform my intent-soul. Some forgotten memories from the illusion surged up, but most still slipped away like sand between my fingers." As he spoke, Xu Yuan pointed to his own eyes. Tianyan looked. These were the golden pupils unique to the Heaven-Deducing Art. The gold was somewhat dim, and the occasional glints of blood-red light broke the purity of the color. "You don't need to doubt my words. To give you an example... mm..." Trailing off, Xu Yuan suddenly curled his lips into a smile and asked, "Do you still remember that place, Zhujian Valley?" The moment the words fell, Tianyan's beautiful eyes snapped wide open.